The new guidelines, last revised in 2004, will also be published in the September issue of the journal Pediatrics.

According to the AAP, high blood pressure is one of the top five chronic diseases in children and adolescents, but its diagnosis is missed in up to 75 percent of young people.

"We have seen an increase in children's blood pressure over the last decade or so," Dr. Joshua Samuels, a professor of pediatrics at the McGovern Medical School at UT Health in Houston, Texas, told NBC News.

"That's probably related to the obesity epidemic that we're seeing in children, but that doesn't completely explain the increase in blood pressure that we're seeing."

Cheyenne Cameron, 16, of Damon, Texas, told NBC News the condition "took a toll on me emotionally and physically. I felt drained. I was always tired."

She missed her freshman year — 180 days of class.

Her mother, Katie Cameron, said it never occurred to her high blood pressure was the problem, telling NBC News, "I just didn't think that could even be possible for a 15-year-old."

At her heaviest, Cheyenne weighed 220 pounds; she has now lost 60 pounds and "her symptoms just went away," the girl's mother told NBC News.

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